Va. School And Campus Safety Task Force At Work

(WUSA) - The 42 members of the Governor's new School and Campus safety task force were sworn in and quickly started their work. They first heard what's already been done in terms of training and security measures.

Governor McDonnell called the task force in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings to see if there's more the state can do to keep children safe... both at school and on campus.

"We've made a lot of progress since the Virginia Tech shootings... We want to see what more we can do," said McDonnell.

The governor recently suggested that we should look into allowing gun-trained teachers to carry weapons at school: "I'm simply suggesting... we should be taking a look at the idea. "

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is on the task force. "We are always going to have people who... [we] need to stop them before they do harm," said Cuccinelli.

One subject that's glaringly omitted on the agenda is gun control. But at least one member of the task force thinks that a mistake.

Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington) said, "We can't just deal with school safety. Because if somebody want to, they can shoot their way in. "

Delegate Hope says 40 percent of gun sales in Virginia are private, and don't require background checks. He has a bill to change that, but it won't be up for discussion here.